400th blog post

click photo to enlarge

As I prepared this post I noticed it is the 400th* since I began the blog on December 23rd 2005.

I started PhotoReflect to give my photography a focus and to try and improve the quality of my images. I think it has done that, and the comments and emails I receive seem to suggest it's so too. The short pieces that have accompanied each post were also designed to challenge me. In the early days of the blog I found coming up with subjects fairly easy. Lately it's been harder! The quality of my writing seemed to improve as the months passed, but then levelled off. Lately, it's maybe slipped back a touch!

The interruptions that there have been due to work and moving house proved to be useful in that I came back to posting re-energised, with a backlog of photographs to work through, and some fresh topics to discuss. At the moment I'm finding the time for photography and "reflecting", but the time will surely come when I'll take another break. I've had a several emails asking me why the facility to comment has been removed. The one word answer is "Spam". I may return the feature at some point in the future, but it will probably be moderated i.e. I'll have to read and approve each one before it's posted. In the meantime I've been happy to get emails from regular correspondents and the occasional new reader, and I hope you'll continue to send me your feedback. I'm currently revising my "Best of PhotoReflect", and I'll let you know when that's ready to view.

I can't let this milestone pass without saying that the feedback I've had through this blog, and on the photography forums where I post, has invariably been positive, insightful and helpful, and has played a big part in helping me to improve my photography and keep finding the images. Thank you everyone!

Today's photograph is some tree bark I came across in a busy town centre. I think it's a plane tree (Platanus hispanica), but I'd be happy to be corrected if anyone knows otherwise.

* Some of you may have added up each year's total, arrived at 396, and are now wondering about my facility with mathematics. The fact is, for very specific reasons, I've recently removed 4 of the older posts.

photograph & text (c) T. Boughen

Camera: Olympus E510
Mode: Aperture Priority
Focal Length: 68mm macro (136mm/35mm equiv.)
F No: f7.1
Shutter Speed: 1/40
ISO: 100
Exposure Compensation: -0.3 EV
Image Stabilisation: On